The best thing about B-movies from the 50s is that they are almost always entertaining, if awful. Plan 9 From Outer Space certainly has more entertainment value than, say, Armageddon, and It Conquered the World was a funny little piece of silliness with performances that were definitely better than expected. The latter movie also featured the funniest movie monster I have ever seen.
But The Amazing Colossal Man, simply put, has few things going for it. It looks promising, just take a glance at the priceless tagline: "A Seventy Foot Giant Is Terrorizing Las Vegas..." Sounds like a hilarious piece of schlock, doesn't it? Well, I was wrong to think so.
The movie looks awful. Everything is too dark and since it is a black and white picture (although blue-and-black would be a more proper way to describe it), it is often difficult to tell what is really going on on the screen. Our hero, Glenn Langan's Lieutenant Manning, is a dull emo martyr who I found it difficult to feel sorry for. Sorry buddy, but if you run out in front of a nuclear explosion, you have yourself to blame.
The main problem I had was with the ludicrous story (man is badly burned by hydrogen bomb and starts growing) that we're supposed to take seriously. This isn't a tongue-in-cheek riot, it's a melodramatic, dragging bore. It has the entertainment value you'd expect from The Seventh Seal.
It is also annoying how repetitive the scenes are. Giant-Manning will sit in his hospital bed, whining about his condition, and his girlfriend will console him and claim that the doctors are working day and night. A few scenes later, Giant-Manning will sit inside a circus tent and whine, his girlfriend will console him again and repeat that the doctors are doing all they can. It all screams "filler" and makes you long for the cheesy monster action of the Gamera movies.
The only scene in which anything of interest happens occurs at the very end, where a seemingly stoned Manning goes on a very mild rampage in his city. Then he is shot down and killed. That's it. The end.
The Amazing Colossal Man is a huge disappointment. While Plan 9 might not have the quality of TACM, it is certainly more fun to watch. Avoid.(r#7)
But The Amazing Colossal Man, simply put, has few things going for it. It looks promising, just take a glance at the priceless tagline: "A Seventy Foot Giant Is Terrorizing Las Vegas..." Sounds like a hilarious piece of schlock, doesn't it? Well, I was wrong to think so.
The movie looks awful. Everything is too dark and since it is a black and white picture (although blue-and-black would be a more proper way to describe it), it is often difficult to tell what is really going on on the screen. Our hero, Glenn Langan's Lieutenant Manning, is a dull emo martyr who I found it difficult to feel sorry for. Sorry buddy, but if you run out in front of a nuclear explosion, you have yourself to blame.
The main problem I had was with the ludicrous story (man is badly burned by hydrogen bomb and starts growing) that we're supposed to take seriously. This isn't a tongue-in-cheek riot, it's a melodramatic, dragging bore. It has the entertainment value you'd expect from The Seventh Seal.
It is also annoying how repetitive the scenes are. Giant-Manning will sit in his hospital bed, whining about his condition, and his girlfriend will console him and claim that the doctors are working day and night. A few scenes later, Giant-Manning will sit inside a circus tent and whine, his girlfriend will console him again and repeat that the doctors are doing all they can. It all screams "filler" and makes you long for the cheesy monster action of the Gamera movies.
The only scene in which anything of interest happens occurs at the very end, where a seemingly stoned Manning goes on a very mild rampage in his city. Then he is shot down and killed. That's it. The end.
The Amazing Colossal Man is a huge disappointment. While Plan 9 might not have the quality of TACM, it is certainly more fun to watch. Avoid.(r#7)